{"id":1905,"date":"2010-07-27T20:29:54","date_gmt":"2010-07-28T03:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/?p=1905"},"modified":"2010-07-29T14:28:46","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T21:28:46","slug":"the-power-of-the-written-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/2010\/07\/the-power-of-the-written-word\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of the Written Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Communication is so valuable and written communication is the artifact and record of a good process.\u00a0 Writing is becoming a lost art for the common person.\u00a0 Go back 150 years and read the articulate correspondence of common farmers who had become enlisted men in the American Civil War.\u00a0 They are eloquent and full of great words and phrases.\u00a0 Here is an example.<\/a> (From a Southern soldiers perspective – not from my family history – just a good example of writing)<\/p>\n

Writing today in a business environment should not be compared to such letters, but still requires a bit of finesse in order to communicate well.<\/p>\n

Here are a few tips for good emails and memos.<\/p>\n

Get to the point<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just like in speaking – get the message across at the beginning.\u00a0 People will not read a long email or memo.\u00a0 they will skim it for clues and directives to see if they need to read the whole thing.\u00a0 If you fail to get your point across in the first paragraph, you may never get them to read more.<\/p>\n

Get Organized<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t just rattle off an email or memo as the words come to mind.\u00a0 Figure out a beginning, middle and end.\u00a0 Choose the order of your written word carefully.\u00a0 Help the flow of the readers thoughts carry along with the writing.<\/p>\n

Write like you speak<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most people write a little loftier than they speak.\u00a0 Don’t get too far from your typical tone. If you inject humor in your speech, then don’t be afraid to add some to your writing (if the topic allows).\u00a0 Writing should flow similar to speech.\u00a0 Not to formal and not to casual.\u00a0 Don’t use “gonna” or “ain’t” – but keep from getting too formal.<\/p>\n

Avoid Fluff<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t add information or stories that are not germane to the conversation.\u00a0 Remove needless sentences that do not advance understanding.<\/p>\n

Don’t assume they know anything<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unless it is obvious to all.\u00a0 Check to see if you have fully explained yourself as if you knew nothing of the subject before.\u00a0 Quickly explain terms or processes that are not common knowledge.\u00a0 Remind them of things discussed before.\u00a0 Give them anchors to start their thinking by referring to other memos or documents.<\/p>\n

Remember the reader<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t talk down to the readers or over their heads.\u00a0 Do not use too much “tech talk” if the audience will not understand it.\u00a0 Focus on what the reader needs to know and present it in easy to understand terms.\u00a0 Avoid jargon and acronyms.<\/p>\n

Read it when you are done<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t just hit the send key or the print button.\u00a0 Stop – take a break – then come back and read it again.\u00a0 Make changes as needed.\u00a0 If it is a memo – get someone else to read it and offer comments.\u00a0 If it is a tutorial or procedure – get someone to try it out, step by step, then send it out.<\/p>\n

Lastly – Don’t assume that they read it<\/strong><\/p>\n

If it is critical that one or two people know exactly what is in the memo or email, follow up with a conversation.<\/p>\n

Using some of these tips might help clarify your points.\u00a0 Improving your skills at writing can advance your career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Communication is so valuable and written communication is the artifact and record of a good process.\u00a0 Writing is becoming a lost art for the common person.\u00a0 Go back 150 years and read the articulate correspondence of common farmers who had become enlisted men in the American Civil War.\u00a0 They are eloquent and full of great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cad-management","category-tips"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1905"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1919,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905\/revisions\/1919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1905"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caddmanager.com\/CMB\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}